General

Registration

How do I register for Notify NYC?

You can register for Notify NYC on this
website or by calling 311 (TTY: 212-504-4115).

To register online click the “Enroll” link in the left
hand menu on this page. You will be asked for basic contact and location information
so messages can be tailored to your area of interest and delivered by the methods
you select, such as email, phone, or SMS/text. You must then check your email inbox
for a confirmation email from Notify NYC and follow the instructions to finalize
your enrollment.

To register by phone if you do not have an email address, call
311 (TTY: 212-504-4115) and ask to register for Notify NYC. You will then be connected to an automated
registration system that will guide you through the registration.

To register by phone if you do not have an email address, call 311 (TTY: 212-504-4115) and ask to register
for Notify NYC. You will then be connected to an automated registration system that
will guide you through the registration.

Notify NYC has always allowed you to register for school notifications, however now they are
becoming more school specific. You’ll need the address for the school(s) or the cross street
you want to receive notifications about. If you do not know your school’s address,
you can go to http://schools.nyc.gov,
and use their “Find a School” tool. Remember that the address and cross street you are providing is not your own.

You may receive voice messages if your phone number was previously enrolled with
Notify NYC and never deactivated. To remove your phone number from Notify NYC, call
311 (TTY: 212-504-4115) and report to them that you want your phone number removed. You may also go
to the "contact" section on the top navigation bar and use the "Report a Technical
Problem" link.

After an account is created, you must confirm the account before you receive messages.
If you registered online, you should have received an email asking you to confirm
your account. If you no longer have your confirmation email, go to
www1.nyc.gov/notifynyc, select “My Account,” and enter your username and
your password. The system will respond that your account is not yet confirmed and
will automatically send you a new confirmation email.
If you are attempting this procedure and have not confirmed your email, you cannot use the
forgot password link. If you forget your password and have not yet confirmed your account,
you must contact Notify NYC at notifynyc@oem.nyc.gov.

If your account is confirmed, remember that messages are sent based on the particular
notification type and a selected area in the city, so not all registrants will receive
notifications for every incident. Check the RSS feed on
www1.nyc.gov/notifynyc to see if any notifications have been sent for your area
and selected notification types.

You may also check your account to ensure your contact information is correct.

Registrants may find their confirmation codes in their spam or junk mail folders.
Make sure you add Notify NYC (notifynyc@oem.nyc.gov)
to your approved sender list.

If you no longer have your confirmation email, go to
www1.nyc.gov/notifynyc, select “My Account”, and enter your username and
your password. The system will respond that your account is not yet confirmed and
will automatically send you a new confirmation email.
If you are attempting this procedure and have not confirmed your email, you cannot use the forgot
password link. If you forget your password and have not yet confirmed your account you must contact Notify NYC
notifynyc@oem.nyc.gov.

For our most critical Twitter messages, be sure to also enable Twitter Alerts.

To stop following @NotifyNYC on your mobile device:
1. Set up your mobile phone to send a text message to 40404
2. Enter message: "OFF Notify NYC" (without the quotation marks)
3. Wait for text message from Twitter confirming that you are no longer following
us.

Messages

Who is sending the notifications?

The New York City Office of Emergency Management operates a Watch Command team that
monitors emergency activity throughout the city 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Watch Command monitors radio, computer, and 911 dispatches from the NYPD, and FDNY.
Additionally, Watch Command monitors information feeds from regional emergency
operations centers, the FAA, MTA, the Port Authority and many other federal, state,
and local agencies for incidents that affect the city. When an emergency has the
potential to affect a significant number of New Yorkers, Watch Command uses Notify
NYC to inform the public.

Messages are sent as soon as possible after the confirmation of an emergency or
significant event, which may occur at any time of day or night. Other health, school
and parking notifications are most frequently sent during the day.

You will receive messages about emergencies and important events in the areas you
indicated were important to you. Subscribers can sign up for the following messages:

Emergency Alerts: Issued only for critical incidents involving likely or actual
threats to the safety of you or others in your area, and often contain instructions
on how to reduce the likelihood and/or severity of danger. Examples include Tornado
Alerts, Mandatory Evacuation instructions (as during Hurricane Irene and Hurricane Sandy),
and alerts for missing persons in imminent danger of harm or death, such
as AMBER Alerts* . Notify NYC subscribers are automatically registered for Emergency
Alerts. All other message types are optional.

Significant Events: The most commonly issued message type, these provide information
on the most broad range of incidents, including large fires, severe weather events,
planned and unplanned roadway closures, major mass transit disruptions, power outages,
low altitude aircraft flyovers, fireworks displays, structural collapses, and more.
Additionally, these messages may offer suggestions, such as alternate routes to
bypass road closures, websites where further information is available, or attached
photos and/or maps where appropriate.

Major Mass Transit Disruptions: Planned or unplanned disruptions to regular NYC Subway, Bus, and/or regional
rail service, causing significant transit service delays in one or several boroughs of NYC.
Determination of incident severity is at the discretion of NYC OEM personnel, and based, in part,
upon the location, size, and duration of actual or anticipated service disruptions,
as well as time of day, and approximate number of customers impacted
(e.g. a suspension of an entire subway line between several boroughs, during AM or PM rush hour).

Major Traffic Disruptions: Planned or unplanned arterial roadway closures, causing significant traffic delays
on major highways, bridges and/or tunnels in one or several boroughs of NYC. Determination of incident severity
is at the discretion of NYC OEM personnel, and based, in part, upon the location, size and duration of actual or
anticipated traffic impacts, as well as time of day, and approximate number of drivers impacted
(e.g. an extended closure of a bridge, during the AM or PM rush hour).

Public Health: Messages specifically regarding events with the potential to impact
public health. Examples include Air Quality Health Advisories (issued by the State
Dept. of Environmental Conservation), and mosquito spraying by the Dept. of Health
and Mental Hygiene.

Schools Notification: A school notification is issued when a NYC public school is
impacted by an incident causing changes to normal school dismissal times or locations.
These may include when students are relocated from one NYC public school to another
due to a loss of heat or other building condition. These messages provide the names
and addresses of all impacted facilities, dismissal times and locations, and any
other all other relevant information.

Waterbody Advisories: Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) happen when a wastewater
treatment plant or parts of the sewer get too full, usually when there’s a big rain
event or snowstorm. When this occurs, wastewater is sent straight into our waterways,
without being treated. When signing up for a particular waterbody, Notify NYC subscribers
will be notified when a CSO event has occurred during the last 24 hours.

Emergency Parking Suspension: Alternate side regulations may be changed because
of inclement weather or emergencies. The Department of Transportation and the Department of Sanitation carefully
consult weather reports before and during snowfalls in order to determine whether
suspension is necessary. As weather patterns can change quickly, this decision must
sometimes be made late in the day. After a snowfall, alternate side parking regulations
will be restored so that plows can begin removing snow and ice from curbside lanes.

*Missing person notifications may be designated as Emergency Alerts if the missing
person is in imminent danger, and local law enforcement deems that the public’s
assistance can have a direct impact on the safe resolution of these incidents. The
two most serious examples are:

Missing Senior Notification: Issued for missing seniors (over 65 years of age) that
may not have known cognitive impairments.

Missing Child/College Student: When a missing child under the age of 21 or a college
student of any age is deemed to be endangered, but the case does not meet AMBER
Alert activation criteria, there are two alternative alert systems available, known
as the Missing Child and College Student Alert Programs. A missing child or college
student can be at serious risk of bodily harm or death without an abduction occurring.
For example, children with Down syndrome, autism spectrum disorder or other medical conditions can
be at an extreme safety risk if they go missing.

Notify NYC tries in all cases to include a photo, physical descriptions, and any
other descriptive info available. Notify NYC subscribers can have a direct impact
on the outcome of these cases simply by reviewing message contents, and calling
911 if you believe you’ve seen a missing person. Currently, issuance of AMBER
and Silver Alerts to all subscribers is a legislated requirement of the Notify NYC
program.

Weather: Significant weather conditions forecast to impact part or all of the NYC area. Examples include coastal flooding, heavy downpours, or gusty winds. NOTE: Severe, potentially life-threatening weather conditions may be classified as Emergency Alerts, to ensure that all subscribers receive them, and may be accompanied by separate Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) from the National Weather Service.

One of my friends or family members is missing. Who do I contact to initiate
an AMBER or Silver Alert?

Notify NYC program is currently unable to accept requests for the issuance of AMBER,
Missing Child/College Students, Missing Senior or Silver Alerts directly from the
public. If you believe that someone you know is in danger or missing, please call
911.

I see Notify NYC messages on websites, blogs, and re-tweeted
on Twitter. Should I trust these messages?

Notify NYC is the official source for messages about emergency information and City
services. When a website or blog takes a Notify NYC message and reposts it, they
are making the message available to a broader audience; however, this is not the
official source of information. There have been cases of Notify NYC messages being
incorrectly re-tweeted or posted.

For this reason, please ensure you are registered with Notify NYC to receive official
messages.

Each mode of communication has different limitations. Messages received by phone
and email can be longer than text messages and Twitter messages. If a long message
is sent by text, the message gets broken down into separate messages that are not
guaranteed by carriers to be received in the correct order.

While every effort has been made to ensure reliability of the systems the City uses,
delivery of Notify NYC services is heavily dependent on external networks and providers
outside the City’s control. The City is actively performing outreach with service
providers to make sure accurate messages get to you. However, below are some examples
of service limitations.

Email: While email is often the fastest way to deliver information,
your ability to receive emails may be disrupted if the networks are damaged or at
maximum capacity.

Text Messages: Wireless data networks can also be compromised by
outages and high traffic volumes. Additionally, most wireless carriers do not guarantee
the timely delivery of text messages, nor do they guarantee text messages will be
received at all. Contact your wireless service provider or review your contract
to see how these policies might affect your ability to receive text messages from
Notify NYC.

Telephone: This method sends pre-recorded messages to your phone,
but it may be disrupted if your wired or wireless carrier is experiencing network
congestion, outages, or you have poor reception.

Website: The City’s website has been designed to handle high volumes
of users with little or no effect on performance. However, you may not be able to
access certain websites if your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is experiencing
outages.

RSS: The RSS is a passive means to get information to registrants.
While all notifications are posted, this service may lag behind email and text messages.

What are these unsolicited “Emergency Alerts” I occasionally
receive on my cell phone? Why are they are accompanied by loud sounds?

Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) are issued by local, state, and/or federal officials
for significant emergencies in your area. They are broadcast from cellphone towers
near an emergency, and received on all cell phones that are equipped with the proper
software. This is a federally mandated alert communication system, not necessarily
sent by Notify NYC. Therefore, non-Notify NYC subscribers will still receive them.
Examples include severe weather alerts, issued by the National Weather Service (NWS),
and AMBER Alerts, issued by state law enforcement officials for confirmed child
abductions. For more information, visit: http://www.fema.gov/integrated-public-alert-warning-system.

My Preferences

Can I update my account information after I register?

You can update all of your account settings by visiting
www1.nyc.gov/notifynyc and selecting “My Account”. You will need to enter
your current username (email address) and password to access your account.

If you enrolled online, you can update any of your account information on the "My
Account" page. After clicking on the "My Account" you will be asked to enter your
username (email address) and password to access your account.

If you enrolled over the phone using the automated system, you may call 311 (TTY: 212-504-4115) to update
your account information.

You can modify your account by logging into http://www1.nyc.gov/notifynyc.
Your account is password- protected, so there is no way for the City to modify your
account.

To edit your account settings:

Click on “My Account” in the top navigation bar.

Enter your email and password and click “Login.”

The “Contact Points” page should be displayed. Modify any relevant account settings
including adding addresses or changing notification types by using the green "+"
or red "-" icons.

You can also add up to five telephone numbers, and up to a total of five text based
contact types such as email addresses, fax numbers, BlackBerry PIN, SMS/text-enabled
telephone numbers, Instant Messanger (IM) screen names.

On the “Contact Points: Contact Points” page, navigate to "Manage Services"
on the right hand side of the page and click the green "+" sign next to "SUSPEND
SERVICE".

You are now on the "Manage Services: Set a time not to receive notifications" page.
Enter the dates you would like to your services to be suspend from. The maximum
duration to suspend service is six months.

Your account is now suspended for the time period you have selected,
and you will not receive notifications. At any time, you can log in and remove your vacation settings.

You can add up to five city addresses to your account. You can also add, remove,
and edit these locations through by navigating to
http://www1.nyc.gov/notifynyc and signing into your account by clicking on
"My Account" on the top navigation bar.

After you log in, you will be on the "Contact Points Page", navigate to the right hand section and under "Notification Addresses."

The NYC Department of Health is responsible for monitoring beach conditions; including monitoring water quality to ensure it meets safety standards and the inspection of beach facilities to ensure they meet NYC and New York State health codes. If either the water or facility does not meet the applicable standards, the NYC Department of Health can issue a beach notification to inform the public of such conditions.

If a beach is closed, the Department of Parks and Recreation may also notify the public of a status change.

Depending on the extent of the pollution, the NYC Department of Health can issue either an Advisory or a Closure of the beach. An advisory means that swimming or wading is not recommended at the location.
A closure means that swimming or wading is not permitted at the location.
These notifications will also be posted at the affected beach until conditions improve.

The NYC Department of Parks and Recreation may also issue a Closure of a beach.